European Vacation Planning, Continued

Some progress since this morning...

I'm about two months out now (amazing!). With the trip paid off, I've got a few things still left on the to-do list, with number one being to save up enough spending money for the trip. After a slightly hectic late May/early June, I'm back on track with that. Other items include:

To Do

• Practice packing
• Practice hand-washing clothes
• Replace/get a backup pair of eyeglasses
• Call credit card companies, let them know I'll be overseas
• Transfer money from savings to checking to cover the trip expenses
• Pre-pay some bills so I won't be late with anything in September
• Work on my frickin' languages (bad Bart! Bad!!)

To Buy

• Rain jacket
• Neck rest (a fellow business traveler told me that I'd need a "stiff" one--otherwise there really wasn't much point)
• Shout/stain remover Bought 6/28
• Lock for backpack
• Bar soap/container
• Folding umbrella Bought 6/28
• Packmate (i.e., something to collapse/condense my clothing)
• Clothes freshener (for those days when I can't quite manage to wash anything) Bought 6/28

Hard to believe the trip is nearly here. I've been at this for nearly two years now. Wild. The goals are to have fun, relax, see beautiful things, learn stuff, have decent food/beverages, buy stuff for myself, family, find stuff to write about, and/or friends--not necessarily in that order. Anyhow--woo hoo! Should be quite a 40th birthday present to myself.